Republic of the Philippines

University o Northern Philippines

Heritage City of Vigan

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

A Literary Criticism in:

The Formalistic Approach
The Sociological Approach
The Psychological Approach
The Moral Approach and
The Archetypal Approach

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in ENG 142 (Literary

Criticism)

Presented by:
Geraldine A. Peralta
BSED 4A

Presented to:
Patria A. Bello, Ed. D., Prof. VI
INSTRUCTOR

Mahogany Water by Soccoro Villanueva

Plot Summary:
Julian has had so many pets but they all died: hamster,
fish, a spider, a bird. And I worry that he might think life so fragile, full
of mishaps. I talked to him about lifes twists and turns, but he seemed
not to mind at all. Instead he became more careful with his pet. In his
birthday, he bought a rabbit and named it Buddy.
Buddy is now two months old. We take him with us in Punta
Fuego. Francis did not want to come. But Julian and I wont give up.
Come on, daddy! Please, daddy! Francis gave up and we won. And
we all go for Christmasing with Gracie and her kids.
Gracie is my friend. Newly-divorced, losyang and pudgy and
weepy. Not like her old self at all. So I took her out to the Red Box
Karaoke. And the then gorgeous Gracie was back. We had big fun like
we did before when we were skinny and innocent and boy-crazy. Back
in the days of Mahogany Water. We got the name from Weenas father
who made us drink a concoction of steeped mahogany seeds. Awfully
bitter. The taste, we used to say, of boiled golf shoes. It was supposed
to make us invincible. Weenas daddy, 5-star general, what a quack!
He stomped his feet tiny little stomps, like a boy throwing a tantrum
at a toy store as Weena was being lowered to the ground. Dead at 21
from steering wheel lodged in her chest. Vincible.
Gracie and I toured the house. It was magnificent. I imagine how
many scraps would I write and how many cases would Francis lawyer
to buy something like this.
Across the water on the north side where the ridge curves,
there is a larger house, large like Alcatraz even in the distance, and
Francis points to it.
Whoa, that ones a biggie, Gracie says. Isnt it weird, all
these estates, and outside, those kids? Every view in that place
represents grandeur, except the scene of children begging for alms in
the streets.
Gracie has always been cheerful, overenthusiastic and
glitzy, not to mention the prettiest. She got the most attention; she
was Mahogany Waters main attraction. Back then, I had issues with
that. And this this wide-armed outrageous openness to people makes
her stand out.
Julian told the other kids not to take Buddy out of the cage.
But they insist on taking it out of the cage to hold it. Julian looks out for
possible hazards, and I did as well. He argues with them.
My turn to grin. Come here, Jaloosh, I say.
Why? he mouths.

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Come here, gimme hug, I say, and he walks over and

wraps his skinny arms around my neck. I love you, Jalooshkins, I
whisper to his ear.
I love you, too, Mamooshkins, he says.
But I love you more! I say.
Na-ah. I love you more.
Thats not possible, I say, and he runs back to his rabbit,
saying, Its possible, its possible, as he goes.
Thats cute, Gracie says.
Its a script, I say. We say the same lines to each other
every day like prayer.
They had dinner. The adults at the long table, the kids at a small
one where they had a meeting, where Bianca carries on like she was
some chairman of the board. Or like Gloria Arroyo on a good day. I am
the president, okay! And they agreed that everyone could hold the
rabbit three times a day.
Sounds like democracy, says Francis. I reach over and pinch
his arm to silence him, accidentally toppling a knife to the floor. The
kids turn their attention to this little commotion in our table, and I
signal Gracie to pretend to be oblivious, but she cant help herself from
giggling. When she giggles, her eyes squint as if to let the light into
her face so that she glows, it looks like, from inside her skin. And she
shows a lot of cleavage between the V of her turquoise top that I
suddenly feel nervous, and pucha, I need to watch my husbands eyes.
The kids made a promise that they would stick together no
matter what. I reminded Julian not to talk when his mouth is full.
He looks at me from the corner of his eye and turns to his
friends, says conspiratorially, Unless problems, such as adults,
happen.
Gracie laughs hardest. Im laughing, too, but then I see
Francis eyes flit from her boobs to his shrimp and back again and I feel
the room darken a bit. Were going to behave ourselves, arent we?
I say, looking straight at Francis with my eyes popped.
Im sure theres a way down there somewhere, Francis
says referring to the beach. Gracie is face down on a mat beside the
pool just a few feet away an ogle away the two swells of her butt
peeking out of her bikini like twin blimps heralding the start of a major
problem.
I dont know where my panics come from. Wifehood,
motherhood, they make me crazy. I stay where I am, beside the
hammock, blocking my husbands view of Gracie. Id just showered
and my hair is dripping on my dress, which is a beach tunic in blinding
orange; its way too short. Someones pasalubong from Boracay. I
didnt think Id ever wear it its too Joyce Jimenez. But its a Gracie
kind of look.

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Is that new? Its nice, Francis says

Its a gift. Isnt it too short? Too orange? Really, you like
it?
He reaches under the hem of it, slides his fingers beneath
the lacy elastic of my panties. Lets go upstairs, he says.
Now? Its only half past three.
Now.
At times, I think of my mother after we had sex. She had sex all
the time she gave birth ten time, once every two years. She did it like
it was as methodical as baking a cake? Tonight, were going to try to
bake a BOY. Was she even awake? I cant think of my mother doing
the things I do with Francis. No way.
We were all mistakes. We should have been boys. My sisters
and I were all screwed, trying all our lives to be the best
disappointment Daddy ever had. Daddy with the stingy, stingy heart.
A month before my wedding, I stopped speaking to Daddy
altogether after my mother did some girl-talk, and said, Anak, men
are faithless.
What Francis did after sex is sleep. I leave him alone in his
apnea and walk around the house again, shaking off the happy guilt of
broad-daylight sex in someone elses bed.
The stairwell comes alive as four kids run up the stairs at
once, a curious formation: Carlos and Kevin in front, Bianca and Julian
at the back together, holding either end of the rabbit cage. What, she
blinks her green eyes at him and hes in love with her already? I follow
the kids to the kitchen, and I hear the tail end of a sentence being
spoken by Bianca, apparently a suggestion (as can only come from a
girl) to wash the vegetables before giving it for feed.
Hey, baby! I say.
Julian spins around, a clear ripple of disgust washing over
his face. He mumbles that shush, hes not a baby.
Oh, sorry, I forgot, youre an attorney, I say, sing-song.
They are raiding the fridge, Bianca giving orders to the others like a
mother in a supermarket. Dont; get that. Get this. Take that one.
I will not have any other child. Hes enough. Hes plenty.
Takes all my time, all my heart. Come here, guapo, gimme hug, I
say.
Tsk, he says.
He approaches me, and I stoop down to welcome his embrace,
my lips already puckered. But he goes for my ear and whispers, Ma,
can you stop please?
I was shocked.
While the kids are busy having fun and Francis is enjoying the
Godfather series, Gracie and I had time for each other. We
remembered the old days of the Mahogany Water.

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The next day, Buddy is dead. Dead, it appears, from a

couple of siling labuyo the children had fed him the night before.
I told you pets die easy, Julian says solemnly and we
adults stop joking around. This is the tender and exquisite grief of the
young.
We have a burial ceremony for Buddy at noon in the vacant
lot beside the house. I look at Julian to sympathize. His eyes were full
of sorrow but he was not crying. He looks away first.
Beth was full of sorrow. Grief. Francis came and comforted
her.
Julian and Kevin and Bianca and Carlos are playing in the
pool, chasing, splashing, diving in and flapping about, screeching like
dolphins, laughing like birds. Having fun. Theyd forgotten.
At the rim of the pool, Gracie, queen of fools, dances to
Jingle Bells. I look away. From the house across the water I think I see
a glint of light flash for one brief moment and I wave. I fling my arms
like crazy

Formalistic Approach
Characterization
The narrator the speaker in the story, is the protagonist. She is a
round character.
Francis is the husband of the narrator. He is a static character.
Gracie is a friend of the narrator. She was recently divorced. She is an
antihero.
Julian is the son of the narrator and Francis. He is a boy who loved
pets but have them die on him.
Gracies kids: Bianca, Carlos, Kevin they are the new friends of Julian.
Figures of Speech
The story employed some figures of speech to vividly express the
authors ideas. We can find: I didnt think Id ever wear it its too
Joyce Jimenez is an example of analogy. It also has a simile, She did
it like it was as methodical as baking a cake. or He stomped his feet
tiny little stomps, like a boy throwing a tantrum at a toy store.
The Plot
Exposition
The story begins with the introduction of Julian, the narrator and
Francis son. Here, the narrator tells shes worried that her son might
think life so rude. With the thought established in the introduction you

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will be guided through. It can be implied that the narrator did not have
peace of mind, that she had grief inside. that I worried he, only eight,
might think life so inordinately flimsy, full of sad surprises: someone
you care for turning stiff With how the narrator said these lines, we
can hint an uncertainty of happiness because she thinks herself of
these thoughts.
Rising Action/Conflict
The conflict is the inner grief the narrator feels for her loss, her friends
death. Therefore, it is internal. It has been introduced from the start, in
the exposition. It is just that it is implied. The next events in the story
support the problem that the narrator has. She has no peace of mind.
She is insecure of herself. These can be seen in the way she suspects
about her husband. There was one part of the story when she kept an
eye on her husband because she was afraid Francis eyes might have
caught Gracies cleavage. It was even said, The room darkened quite
a bit. Signifying a start o a problem.
Climax
Her insecurity has even gone higher when she was wearing that
orange pair of bikinis. She said she wears it because it is a Gracie kind
of look. It is also when she thought about her mother and her
childhood. This is where the root o her insecurity was revealed. There
was a sudden melancholy. Her sadness was even aggravated when she
was rebuffed by her son when she tried to cuddle him like a baby.
Falling Action
Buddys death is the falling action or denouement. We see here that
the inner grief of the narrator is somewhat came out. And it is no
surprise that she remembered Weenas death.
Conclusion
We can imply that the narrator finally found peace of mind. At the end
of the story, what were mentioned are the kids playing, having
forgotten about the sorrow in the death of Buddy and Gracie dancing
to Jingle Bells and she, the narrator, waving her arms like crazy. We
could say that the narrator was enlightened by the events and decided
to let the grief go, so with the insecurities.
Point of View
The story is expressed in the first person point of viewnarrative voice
that speaks with "I/we/us" pronouns.
Imagery

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The story is rich in imagery. The setting was clearly described. The
reader could easily picture what the author says because of the
abundant use of imagery in the story. You are compelled to imagine the
place being described because it seemed that the words are taking
0you to that place being described, specially images that draw mental
pictures.
Setting
The name of the place where the story was held was Punta Fuego. This
was like an exclusive village for the rich because the house where the
family stayed is a beach house. Also, We see a flash of light from that
direction. A glint of sun deflected from a mirror, maybe, or something
flashy like a Rolex. Across the water on the north side where the
ridge curves, there is a larger house, large like Alcatraz even in the
distance, and Francis points to it. Throughout the story, the parts of
the house are being described as magnificent, grandiose. Which is
true, as in the lines: a humongous Rubiks cube made of glass with
some corner quadrants lopped off. Its shamelessly large for a weekend
retreat; eight huge bedrooms spread over three floors. The bits of
detail stone, wood, glass, leather smell of over-the-top money.
Every twelve-inch plank of wood makes me think of landslides in
Quezon, but I dont tell Graciethat, her sister owns the place, so I tell
her, "Its so Elle Decor." I must admit its very pretty, though. The
design is so open, as if the ocean and sky are part of the house
Literary Devices
The story employed Flashback, since it is looking back into time. The
narrator remembers something from the past, and then the story
revolves around it. And, in a flash, goes back to the present situation.
Another literary device used is Foreshadowing. One event in the story
is a foreshadowing of another event. I see a glint of light flash for one
brief moment and I wave. I fling my arms like crazy. Her seeing of the
glint of light foreshadows her enlightenment. This enlightenment
signifies her realization that she has to let go of the past. She has to
free herself from the insecurities.
Theme
The past can haunt you even if you take refuge in the present.
Whatever you do when you escape something in the past and do not
face it, it will always and always come back haunting you wherever you
go, whether in the present or in the future. Youve got to face what
brought you this uncertainty so that you could free yourself from it and
find inner peace.
Motifs

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Gender Discrimination
This is presented in the part when the narrator remembered the
maltreatment she has experienced in childhood. She was born in the
time when girls are disappointments and boys were preferred than
them.
Grief
Grief becomes an uncertainty of mind when you havent let go o the
feeling. This happens when you havent accepted the loss of a loved
one for example.
Insecurity
Insecurity springs when you feel envy to someone. You think that you
are inferior to a person and you think you dont have what others have.
Symbols
Mahogany Water
Mahogany Water will represent the narrators comfort zone. She loved
the band more than anything else because she felt her worth there.
And when one member of the band, Weena, died, she felt her world
collapse. And literally, the mahogany water, her band caved in.
Buddy Rabbit
As a symbol, Buddy Rabbit is representative of dependent people. They
are the ones who did not stand on their own. They were used to being
controlled by someone. And because Julian was so cautious with his
pet that he became overprotective for the reason that he did not want
another animal dying on him.
Sociological Approach
One great issue we can get from the story is the confinement of
the constituents of a political country. They are never free to choose
even if the political system is democracy. Its essence is never fulfilled.
Buddy rabbit and Julian both symbolize this kind of persons. Julian was
too protective with his rabbit that he never lets him out in the same
way that Beth was babying him too much. The situation became worse
when the other kids joined Julian. Each of them could hold the rabbit
three times a day? They dont let the rabbit breath fresh air. They are
like a president who holds his people too much because he does not
want to lose any vote come next election. And the result is, the rabbit
died.

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This part: Julian told the other kids not to take Buddy out of the
cage. But they insist on taking it out of the cage to hold it. It portrays
two kinds of authority. The first one is not an obvious one; he imprisons
the rabbit in a cage. The rabbit could still move but with a limited
motion. The second one is a real dictator. They are possessive because
they would like hold the rabbit in the neck.
A product of a social condition is also portrayed in the selection.
This is the long-due and extended grief that a person keeps in his heart
from parting with a loved one. In this case, it is the narrators grief. She
had lost Weena, a close friend. And she grieved a lot when this friend
died. Yes, we feel sorrow for our loss but we should not lock ourselves
in our room and cry there all day. As for the narrator, she temporarily
forgot her grief, she has not let go yet of the thought that her friend
died. When something triggers it, for example, Buddys burial, it
eventually comes back. She again feels pain. Another social condition
which is relatively important is gender discrimination and inequality.
This is portrayed through one part of the story wherein the girls,
wherein the narrator is one, are referred to as disappointments to their
father, that they should have been boys. This greatly affects the
attitude of a child. Especially that she was being threatened by her
relatives. She feels a great pressure on her shoulders.
This social condition, loss of a loved one, is a natural cycle in the
society. People come and go, but life is just a matter of acceptance.

Psychological Approach
The narrator feels insecure of herself. She is not even confident of her
husbands feelings. She thinks that Gracie could get her husband when
in fact, Gracie does not try to. This kind of thinking may be caused by
her experiences from childhood.
Maybe the reason is the narrator was treated like she had no worth
when she was a child. Yes, this is supported by these lines: I was the
sixth girl, coming at a time when the disappointment had given way to

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disgust: Babae na naman? Relatives, friends, the whole stretch of

Pinaglabanan, saying the same thing: Another girl? The whole city of
San Juan!
We were all mistakes. We should have been boys. My sisters and me
were all screwed, trying all our lives to be the best disappointment
Daddy ever had. Daddy with the stingy, stingy heart.
We had a spinster aunt live with us, what with all those girl-babies and
wedding cakes Mommy had to make. Auntie Paz told me she told me
many times that my father refused to look at me after I was born, left
my mother at the hospital and got drunk and smashed somebodys
face, so that if I didnt eat my sitaw my Daddy "will give you to
the bumbay who will grind you into paper money." And Daddy will not
miss me. I swear to God thats the first thought that came to my
head.
This is why, I think, she tries to be good in bed. She thinks her
insecurities will be recompensated with this. Sometimes after sex I
think of my mother. I can tell she had sex all the time she gave birth
ten times, once every two years. Ten girls until she was fat and
confused. Couldnt say our names off the top of her head. But to
imagine how she behaved in bed? I cant! It must have been, what,
facile? Perfunctory? As methodical as baking a cake? Tonight, were
going to try to bake a BOY. Was she even awake? I cant think of my
mother doing the things I do with Francis. No way.
Moreover, we can see that the narrator is trying to avoid what
happened to her mother. She did not like to have disappointment for
her husband. The boy was emphasized in the lines above. And the
sacred act o sex was just compared to baking as if they can choose
what could grow in her tummy.
We can say that the id is the sexual act itself. The ego is the The
superego is the thought of her mother.

Moral Approach
The story is set in a Filipino context. But here is another family
from a foreign country, the US. So that we expect it to have Filipino and

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American traditions and values embedded in it, may it be negative or

positive. Some Filipino values which can be seen in the selection are
close family ties. This is portrayed in one part of the story:
"Come here, gimme hug," I say, and he walks over and wraps his
skinny arms around my neck. "I love you, Jalooshkins," I whisper to his
ear.
"I love you too, Mamooshkins," he says.
"But I love you more!" I say.
"Na-ah. I love you more."
"Thats not possible," I say, and he runs back to his rabbit, saying, "its
possible, its possible," as he goes. "Its a script," I say. We say the
same lines to each other every day like prayer. After this, Julian
allowed now the other kids to hold his rabbit. The good benefit and
influence of having close family ties is even implied in the story.
One value innate to the Americans which Gracies family has is
liberality. Her way of dressing is evidence. Also the attitude of her
children could say she is a liberated mother. Another is democracy,
which is portrayed in the Secret Society Club meeting. This is
somewhat not present with the narrator, she was trying to protect his
son, but too much of it, that is babying him could produce another
issue, too much dependence of the child to the parents.
As literary pieces are capable of instilling morals in learners the
story has something to tell us. Morally speaking, the events in the
story are not deviating the morality. But taking refuge in sex is not a
moral act. While it is true that they are married, the narrator should not
be
Beth, as a character was a good mother. She was protective to
her son, actually, overprotective. She was also a good wife. She gives
everything to her family. But she has a dark past. She had a bad
childhood. She experienced being treated as a worthless person. She
was a victim of gender discrimination. She grew up in a family where
girls are not accepted. She lived in the times when boys, even if they
are boys by their deeds, are too appreciated.
Francis was also a good husband. He is always there for his wife.
He comforts her in times of sorrow. He inspires and enlightens her.

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Archetypal Approach
Archetypes found in the selection are:
The sea (beach) the sea usually means the Mother of all Life; spiritual
mystery, and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness and eternity;
the unconscious. In this case, it is death and rebirth. One part of the
story, the narrator said, There is no access to the beach. and her
husband replied, Im sure theres a way down there somewhere. And
in this, I think the author is referring to the death of the feeling of
sorrow and a rebirth of true happiness. In the end of the story, the
narrators husband again reminded her of this. The husbands
inspiration to the narrator is consistent throughout the story.
If we try to connect the story to a literary piece, we could say it is
related to another fictional short story by Nick Joaquin, Three
Generations. The daughter (narrator) is controlling herself. She has an
uncertain happiness because she

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